"Vintage" Custom Long Snoot

 

One of the things that's awesome/infuriating about the vintage hobby is the randomness of the original Kenner lines in terms of character selection. For example, in the original 12-back selection, did we really need a "Death Squad Commander" instead of getting Grand Moff Tarkin?

That's the infuriating part. The awesome part is that with the insane expansion of subsequent Star Wars waves, vintage enthusiasts now have the tools to roll their own vintage figures! One of the hobby's greatest proponents in this regard is Matt of Iron Cow Productions, whose business I've featured on the blog before. Matt makes some amazing customs and isn't afraid to share the recipes, which is admirable. I took him up on one yesterday to make my own custom vintage Garindan ("Long Snoot"), the snitch who ratted out Han and Chewie to the Imperials in Mos Eisley.

Here's what you need - a modern Garindan and a vintage Death Squad Commander (I guess he is good for something after all - j/k). Pop them in boiling water for a few minutes, then take them out (carefully) and pull their heads off. The bodies are quite soft so it's easy.

Now you've got a Garindan head with a hole in the bottom and a DSC body with a hole in the top. I had some hard plastic tubing around from a modelling project that fit perfectly. I cut a short length and secured it in Garindan's head with superglue.

It's a simple friction fit into the DSC body. Bonus - the head turns just like a real factory figure, but fits nice and tight so it won't come off.

I painted the DSC body with grey craft paint (this is necessary to cover up the chest insignia on the DSC's uniform) and put on a coat of gloss varnish to match the factory finish. The donor DSC had some nice vintage patina already that looks great, and it's not unusual for vintage bodies and arms not to match exactly due to aging. The last touch was to cut down a Darth Vader cape (repro from eBay seller) and voila - one "vintage" Long Snoot.

Here's another one I made earlier...

Have fun kids!!

Millennium Falcon Spaceship (Kenner Canada)

 

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!"

Oh man... where to start with this one. Released in 1979, the Falcon was the biggest ship by far in the Star Wars wave. For me as a kid, this was the ne plus ultra of Star Wars toys. The Falcon! It's huge - it has a smuggler's compartment - the ramp goes up and down - laser cannon - WOW!!!

Unfortunately for 8-year-old me, all this coolness came with a serious price tag. In the States this thing cost something like 25 to 30 bucks when a mini-action figure cost $1.97. Here in Canada... $44.99!!! That was far too expensive for me to even ask for as a Christmas or birthday gift back then. Nowadays I see kids like my nieces and nephews getting multi-hundred-dollar gifts like electronics and video games so maybe the world has moved on, but back in the day I wouldn't even have dreamed of asking for this as a present.

Hold that thought - in fact I DID once dream about this toy. I can remember that dream quite clearly. I dreamt that I was playing with the Falcon and left it beside my bed. When I woke up I actually looked for the toy there beside my bed; the dream was that vivid. Of course I was crushed when I realized I'd only been dreaming.

Fortunately, though, 8-year-olds grow up and get jobs, and buy themselves the expensive toys they were too shy to ask for as kids. That's how this Falcon came to be in my collection. Can't remember where I got it exactly but I love that it's in a Canadian bilingual box. I'd owned a loose Falcon as well but sold it on as itwasn't in great condition.

Now on to playtime...

As usual, I've set up some figures to replicate the box art. As I've said before, the Kenner packaging is just so outstanding in terms of its art direction. I can imagine the designers coming up with the ideas for photography illustrating the play features they built into the toys.

The droids use the smuggler's compartment to hide from Stormtroopers.

 

Han and Chewie in the cockpit.

Luke practises with his lightsaber while Chewbacca and R2-D2 "enjoy" a relaxing game of Space Chess (tm). Sadly the training ball and arm are reproductions, unobtrusively marked as such.

Luke in the gunner's station - rotate the cannon to hear laser sounds! (assuming lasers make a sound like hockey cards in bicycle spokes, that is)

Of course the main box art set-up is great too. You have to wonder why the Stormtroopers are just standing around outside the ship though.

 

I thought I'd include a couple of detail shots of parts that are commonly broken on this toy. This is the ramp. Note the tab in the centre that fits onto the body of the Falcon. This is often found broken off the ramp, and without this tab it's almost impossible to get the ramp to stay locked upright.

The struts are also easily broken. Their fragility is compounded by their tight fit into the ramp piece. Often, the struts break off and it's so tough to extract them from the ramp that the whole assembly has to be trashed.

 

Some beauty shots of the ship. I love this toy so much :-)

Interior of battery compartment.

Detail shot of button.




Here's where the magic happens.

Had to include a shot of the proprietors.

 

Solo selfie!!